Oxford Trip Gives Grand River Prep Students an Unmatched Academic, Cultural Experience

An overseas trip is a once-in-a-lifetime event for most high school students. For eight students at National Heritage Academies (NHA) high schools, their time at the University of Oxford this past summer went well beyond a standard sightseeing excursion in England and gave them access to one of the world’s most prestigious universities.



Through a partnership between NHA Founder J.C. Huizenga and Oxford professor Dr. Neil Martin, the students took in lectures from professors and immersed themselves into the material and culture firsthand. Whether it was a day in London that led them to the British Museum, Big Ben, Parliament, and the River Thames, or a seat for a Shakespeare play in Stratford-upon-Avon, it was an unparalleled experience that offered an extraordinary blend of academic rigor and cultural exposure.


“It’s so unique because if students go abroad when they’re in high school, they're just going as tourists 98% of the time,” said Teresa Noordhoek, NHA college counseling and early college manager who served as a chaperone. “The fact that we had an academic element to the trip is a one-in-a-million thing. To experience that as you’re transitioning to college, figuring out who you are and getting some ideas for what the next stage of your life is, I think this is truly unique.”

The trip was available to students from Grand River Preparatory High School and Wellspring Preparatory High School who met a certain academic threshold in terms of GPA, attendance, and behavior, as well as an essay submission and interview. Those selected jumped into required pre-trip reading and research to prepare them for the experience and wrote a piece reflecting on their time when they returned home.


The days were packed with lessons, often lasting until late at night. Each day had a different theme, including theology, history, and literature. A day dedicated to architecture began with a lecture followed by the real-world experience of a tour of the Roman Baths to give students an immersive, authentic sense of how Oxford operates in a short amount of time.

“It takes some of those study abroad features and condenses them down into a really dense package,” Noordhoek said. “The professors we worked with at Oxford said that sometimes in study abroad programs you don’t really get the same effect that students would get compared to other international students who are full-time enrolled at Oxford. But I think we were able to strike the right rigor and give students the real picture of what it's like and just get a small dose of it.”


Studying English, for example, was eye-opening. Instead of lectures based on literature and grammar, they were taught history and language combined, delving into the influences that evolved the English language.
“It’s a whole different playbook for how they do that,” Noordhoek said. “They were able to connect it to things that the students did know. (J.R.R.) Tolkien, for example, created all of his languages and his books because he had that background and studied English in that way. It’s neat to have a point of reference that we know and then have another connection.”

With the success of this initial venture, NHA is considering expanding the program to other high schools in its network and having the trip include college credit. It also could evolve into a cohort, with students sharing their experience with others who aspire to go.


The resources available through Oxford are endless. Whatever shape this partnership takes in the future, it certainly is one that students won’t want to miss.

“We have the ability to reach a very high level of Oxford professors that typical American high schools would not have access to,” said Sarah Vogel, NHA senior manager of curriculum & instruction operation & assessment. “Our organization is really excited about the potential of what this could be in the future for students, this opportunity that doesn’t exist anywhere else.”


About Grand River Prep
Grand River Preparatory High School is a tuition-free, public charter school in Kentwood, Michigan, serving students in ninth through twelfth grade. It is part of the National Heritage Academies network, which includes more than 100 tuition-free, public charter schools serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade across nine states. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.

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